ROBUST STABILIZATION AND TRACKING FOR ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS WITH ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES

The robustness of a dynamical sliding mode control strategy with respe ct to unmatched perturbation inputs and modelling errors is examined f or robotic manipulators equipped with an arrangement of antagonistic a rtificial muscles, acting as actuators. Differential flatness, which i n the case of single-input manipulators coincides with exact lineariza bility of the system, is exploited to obtain a discontinuous feedback control strategy. The approach naturally allows for the introduction o f a first order servovalve-artificial muscle actuator model for slidin g mode controller design purposes.